USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -As indicated above, masks representing potentially harmful spirits were often used to keep a required balance of power or a traditional relationship of inherited positions within a culture. The forms of these masks invariably were prescribed by tradition, as were their uses.

Detailed explanation-2: -Masks used for rituals conceptually transform the wearer into a spiritual being, losing their human form in the process. For instance, penitents use masks in ceremonies to disguise their identity in order to make the act of penitence more selfless.

Detailed explanation-3: -For Indians, masks were living artifacts. Wearing a mask affected the wearer, even as the mask was affected by the wearer. To put on a mask was not merely to impersonate: it was to become the being the mask both represented and was – and thereby to manifest part of one’s self.

Detailed explanation-4: -There is a spiritual power in masks that transports one into realms unseen and gives voice to things unspoken. Within the context of ritual, putting on a mask places the wearer at the intersection between the present and the past, the living and the dead, this world and the Otherworld.

Detailed explanation-5: -Masks serve an important role in rituals or ceremonies with varied purposes like ensuring a good harvest, addressing tribal needs in times of peace or war, or conveying spiritual presences in initiation rituals or burial ceremonies. Some masks represent the spirits of deceased ancestors.